Macross Frontier 02

The action continues in episode 2. The new enemy seems to be tougher (but not as numerous) than the Zentraedi, but not as ridiculous as the ones in Macross 7.

• The mid-air (outer space?) rescue of Ranka harks back to Ichijo’s rescue of Minmay in the original series. While the latter was well done in DYRL, I like the Frontier version because it feels more realistic.

• Alto got some assistance from Mikhail, the latter looking cool while sniping. Our main lead knows how to fly, but can’t fight competently–yet. He also accidentally touches Ranka’s breast–but isn’t really very comedic. I actually miss that tit-for-tat between Ichijo and Hayase. Sadly, nothing of that sort in this series.

• The military still has the habit of withholding information from the civilians. Remember the civilians on board the SDF-1 were listed as all dead. Although yes, in a way I do understand that they hide the truth about the Vajra to prevent panic. After that incident with the Vajra, the civvies chat about it but aren’t suspecting anything grave. Life goes on for them.

• Ranka gets tested. I feel that something in Ranka’s blood has some connection to the Vajra. The hiding Vajra actually starts moving as Ranka starts singing.

• Alto is also tested. Catherine Glass, the military girl, tries to manipulate Alto into joining the military. I get the impression that in the Macross Frontier fleet, the military has everything under their control. So much unlike in Macross 7, where Milia, acting as the civilian leader, usually gets into a tussle with Max, if I remember correctly.

• Alto wonders why civilians–actually the SMS (a civilian military provider) have such advanced equipment as the VF-25. Ozma says something about the power of money. This reminds me of a post on Iwa ni Hana highlighting a post on commercialism in Macross. At first I thought the people were just being optimistic but I don’t know what to think anymore. The tradition continues in Macross Frontier, it seems. Also, our princess–er, hero, gets punched by Azuma when the former asks to pilot a VF-25. Of course, he’s not good at it yet, so it’s no wonder Ozma punches him. Alto, unlike Ichigo who seemed reluctant at first to fight, looks to have more spine than the former. I remember Ichijo calling Focker ‘people killer’ when the latter was trying to convince the former about joining the military.

• This episode also contains the first meeting between Sheryl and Ranka. These two rivals are almost on equal footing. While Sheryl gets points for being taller and prettier, Ranka also is energetic and has a lively personality. In the old series, Hayase was even more of an underdog due to her pessimistic attitude. What’s more exciting in Macross F is that the two rivals have a more direct connection now–Ranka being a huge Sheryl fan.

• On another note, this re-watch was really useful, because I actually do not pay attention to details that much. In this case, I missed the fact that what Ranka was singing towards the end of the episode was the ED. Yeah, jeer.

When the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on re-watch comes along, I might update this post and/or add more pictures.